


An Inconvenient Attachment

by Meynara



Series: Right Where I Belong [10]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Katie Holt undercover, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pidge | Katie Holt-centric, Post-Kerberos Mission, Pre-Voltron: Legendary Defender, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Trans Pidge | Katie Holt, because let's be honest that's what you're getting here, galaxy garrison shenanigans, this is why we lock the door Ryan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-07-28 12:58:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16242110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meynara/pseuds/Meynara
Summary: In the aftermath of the failed Kerberos mission, Katie Holt descended into despair. No amount of skill would give her the information she wanted, especially after being banned from Garrison property by Commander Iverson.Thus there was only one solution in her mind. She had to infiltrate the Galaxy Garrison, to be close to the source and enable her to find what she needed to find to know the fate of her father and brother.Getting in was the easy part. Being able to stay? That was a little harder.Remaining unattached so she could focus entirely on finding her family? That was the hardest part, harder than she ever could expect after years of being brushed aside.





	1. Chapter 1

The hardest part of getting herself into the Galaxy Garrison once more hadn’t been hacking in and changing files to establish a new identity. That was childsplay for Katie Holt. Neither was it obtaining a properly fitting cadet uniform, or getting her course schedule, or even the fact she would be blatantly misgendered day in and day out because it was the only way she could think of to keep her cover.

No, none of that was particularly difficult in and of themselves. The hardest part had been waiting for the term to begin. With how the Galaxy Garrison was run, there was no other time for her to really insert herself into the picture. Her height and slight build helped her to pass off as younger than she was, for all that she would still be in advanced courses.

She only hoped that this last precaution would seal her fate, and let her into the den of the enemy -- because that was what the Garrison was to her now, the enemy that had taken her father and brother and lied about it repeatedly.

Her hands shook, holding the scissors in her hand, looking at her reflection in the mirror, her other hand holding out the one thing she was vain about in her appearance.

Her hair.

The thing that helped her most to identify as herself, the one thing easily visible that marked her as a woman, but the one thing that would give away the fact she was Katie Holt and not Pidge Gunderson. It had to go.

Hand still shaking, it took her a long moment to actually lop off the first bit of hair, tears falling down her cheeks as brown locks curled and hit the floor without a sound. She continued to snip at her hair until it was something resembling neat -- except really, it wasn’t all that neat, not tidy at all, looking instead like something had just taken over and given her her brother’s hair.

...if it helped her blend in as a man, however, it was worth it.

Taking a shaky breath, tears still trailing down her face, she quickly swept up the hair from the floor, depositing it in the trashcan before exiting the gender neutral bathroom, Arizona heat hitting and already quickly warming her up beneath the cream and orange uniform of a senior cadet at the Galaxy Garrison.

Of course...she still had a bit to go before she was actually at the Garrison, since it was a distance from Plaht City, but she could easily ride the bus in with the other Cadets in an hour or so. She just needed to get herself something to drink, sit, and wait.

* * *

Another thing that was difficult for Katie when it came to infiltrating the Garrison was the fact she couldn’t tell her mother what she was doing. If she got caught...she didn’t want her mom in trouble. The less she knew, the better.

It was bad enough they’d lost Matt and Dad, Katie didn’t want to end up getting her mom locked up for something she did. In this sense, it was much better for her to be alone -- _especially_ given she was nineteen. She was an **adult** , she didn’t **_actually_ ** need to tell her mom anything anymore, she could make her own decisions.

That didn’t make it any easier, though. If anything, it made the feeling of dread in her chest grow as the bus pulled in to let the Cadets unload onto campus.

Ultimately, it was a good thing that she had been to the Garrison multiple times in the past -- given she was trying to pass herself off as an upperclassman, it would be odd if she _didn’t_ know her way around. The backpack she carried and the larger duffel bag she half carried, half dragged, contained all she could safely bring with her. Nothing that identified her as Katie, but still some things from home came.

The most important things were in her backpack, however, as she didn’t want the parts she would put back together to scan for signals to be damaged. With luck, she’d be able to scavenge some more things to make the signals pick up better, but until then she would have to make do with what she had. The duffel bag contained clothing -- two more uniforms for day to day wear, a dress uniform she would have to be certain to steam the wrinkles out of, extra boots and shoes, civilian wear, and two more binders.

She hated the feel of the material pressing her chest down, it felt almost too tight, but it couldn’t be -- she had checked it several times at home, making sure she could be comfortable in them in advance because she had to be sure she passed as male.

She had to be.

So it was likely all in her _mind_ that the pressure was present, at least to an extent. She could still breathe, still had full range of movement, everything was fine. Completely and perfectly fine. She was even convinced of that until she caught sight of a grey uniform, her entire being tensing up. This was it, this was the first test of her disguise, no matter who it was wearing the grey uniform.

But then...instead of coming closer, whoever it was turned and walked away quickly. Blinking behind big rimmed glasses, Katie did her best to not second guess it. Whoever it was probably just needed to go do something, forgot to do something, utterly unrelated to her presence.

Surely.

The door to her dorm -- one of the few single units -- lay ahead and all she wanted to do was unpack and take her binder off for a bit until she needed to go to the mess hall. No thinking about her mission, no thinking about everything that could go wrong, just relaxing and maybe taking a bit of a nap because there was no way she would sleep well that night.

* * *

It was three days later when classes began properly, with Katie -- Pidge now, having decided to come onto campus a bit early to get herself settled in. Three days of absolutely no results and no sleep at night, only during the days when she could get away to take quick naps. Her nights were devoted to trying to pick up signals that had been in the atmosphere with growing frequency, signals that had words that she couldn’t interpret completely, but one word standing out above all others.

Voltron.

She didn’t know who or what Voltron was, but it sounded important to these beings that surely weren’t on Earth, so it became important to her. Any knowledge that could help her figure out what happened to her family, to the rest of the crew lost on the Kerberos mission, would be useful if she could only figure out what it was!

Lost in thought, she almost didn’t catch herself, stopping just shy of bumping into an officer in what looked and even _smelled_ like a fresh new uniform, her left hand quickly moving up to attempt a salute. Eyes moved upward enough, needing to see the rank of who she was saluting, and it felt like her heart was going to catch in her throat.

“I-I’m sorry, Lieutenant Kogane, sir…!” Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her lip from wiggling a bit. This was it, this was the end of the line for her, he would recognize her and turn her in for sure and--

\--and his eyes, the gorgeous violet they were, widened as he shook his head at her. “At ease, Ka--Cadet. Carry on.” Clearing his throat, he was quick to turn away, not even waiting for a reaction, instead physically grabbing another officer by his jacket and dragging him along with him.

Blinking slowly, Pidge lowered her arm, watching before turning to go back towards her class, covering her mouth with her hand as she yawned. It wasn’t time to sleep yet. She could nap at lunch. She just needed to make it through her morning classes.

Thus, she was quick to find herself a seat towards the back of the class, not wanting to be too close to the instructor on the off chance they might recognize her, and thus as her classmates filed in, she was able to listen to idle chatter, begin connecting names to faces. There were a few looks shot in her direction, but no one seemed inclined to initiate conversation.

Time passed, and the beep over the intercom indicated it was time for class to start...and there was no instructor to be seen, officer or otherwise. Given the whispers that were still being passed, this was not typical behavior. Leaning back in her seat so she could pull her schedule out of her pocket, she had just pulled it out when the door opened again, admitting two men.

One of them was very familiar to Pidge, causing her to quickly look past him. (She really did not want to lock eyes with Iverson, why did she pick a class he was teaching…?!) The other man was much younger, almost slim, and...also vaguely familiar looking, but she wasn’t sure why. As the pair took their places at the front of the classroom, she dismissed the thought, instead settling in to focus.

“Welcome to Qualitative Research Methods. I am Commander Iverson, and you will address me as such. This is my assistant for this course, Lieutenant Shirogane. If I am not present, he will be, and he can answer any questions you have.” Iverson’s voice was gruff, but not quite as much as she had expected. It was something more along the lines of bored, as if this was something he’d said multiple times in the past, something he was eager to be past.

Daring to look up, her eyes caught Iverson’s, and there was a glimmer of recognition in his eyes before he turned away, speaking again as he wrote a few key terms on the board. He didn’t acknowledge her, didn’t glower at her, didn’t yell for her to leave, but he surely knew…? Quickly, she looked over at the other, younger man. Shirogane. That was a familiar name, one she’d heard quite a few times before at Taylor-Keaton Institute of Technology. One of the TA’s she had taken classes with, both with him as an instructor and as a fellow classmate, was one Ryou Shirogane, but he wasn’t affiliated with the Galaxy Garrison.

The man standing up there with a bright smile, looking welcoming as can be, looked almost like Ryou if he had a slightly different base structure and a lot less fat. Granted, with the fit of the uniforms, she couldn’t tell for sure but, it didn’t seem to be straining at all. If anything, it looked a bit _loose_ on him. She focused most of her attention on him, vaguely aware of what Iverson was droning on about, but honestly? She knew all of this material, had taken a course much like this when she was in undergrad, so it couldn’t possibly hurt to not pay attention now, right? Especially since it was the first day.

So she watched Lt. Shirogane, wondering idly if he ever had an expression on his face that looked less happy, looked more serious, like the Shirogane she _knew_ \-- the one from Taylor-Keaton, not this one who had known her dad, had known Matt -- which led her down memory lane until eventually she fell asleep with her head propped up on her hand, elbow against the desk. There were faint whispers and even a giggle or two around her as students noticed, but nothing woke her up.

Not until _after_ class was over, at least.

A gentle nudge against her shoulder and the smell of fresh coffee was what ended up waking her, blinking her eyes quickly as she sat up, fingers reaching to wipe moisture out of her eyes behind her glasses before seeing who was waking her with coffee. Soft face, Lieutenant stripes, Shirogane. A soft, confused sound escaped her throat, but she was quick to take the offered coffee, taking a deep breath before sipping.

“I’m sure you know you need to be awake for your classes, Katie,” there was faint laughter in his voice as he moved to lean back on the desk beside her, watching carefully.

Setting the coffee down, she let out a sigh. “I know, sir, I just...haven’t been adjusting too well to--” Her voice cut off abruptly as her hearing, her mind caught up with what she’d been called. “I -- I’m not--”

The lieutenant laughed, looking over his shoulder briefly to make sure no one else was entering the classroom. “It’s alright, I know who you are, Katie. Keith knows it’s you, too. We’ll keep your secret, but you **_need_ ** to stay awake in classes for us, okay?”

“Okay…” She peered up at him carefully, looking above her glasses before pushing them back up her nose. “I’ll try, sir. It’s just...sorta hard given I covered a lot of this material when I was fourteen, fifteen?”

“A bit of a refresher never hurt anyone.” Pushing himself away from the desk, he gave her shoulder a brief squeeze. “Now, get to your next class, Cadet Gunderson. We’ll have a talk later about why we don’t sleep though class, alright?”

She didn’t need to be told twice, taking only a moment to slide her notebook into her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, quickly leaving the empty classroom under Shirogane’s watchful gaze.

The empty coffee cup remained on her desk.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of her first day passed in a blur, with Pidge opting to return to her room to get a breather from wearing her binder instead of eating (as well as catch a power nap). She saw some of the same faces repeatedly, but some she didn’t see as often. It wasn’t quite like she had expected it to be, either, knowing what she did of how the Garrison held classes, expecting that she would be with mostly the same people the whole day.

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

She had cadets from all kinds of specializations and even different years sitting in courses with her. Operations was predominant, given she was in a subsection of it as communications officer, with pilots also falling under the same branch, but engineers and scientists and even some of the newer officers who were looking towards command were in classes with her.

Thanks to this, she wasn’t caught quite as off-guard as she might have been seeing a grey uniform moving towards her, instead casting her gaze downward and holding up her left hand, once more saluting as best as she  _ could _ ? But it was still horribly incorrect. However, this time she kept her mouth shut, keeping quiet simply for fear that she would yawn if she spoke.

The man in uniform stepped closer, footsteps growing louder until they stopped, leaving clean but well-worn boots within Katie’s line of sight. When he didn’t speak, however, she forced herself to take in a breath, looking up and expecting the worst. Instead, she was surprised by violet eyes looking down at her once more, though this time they seemed less...shocked? He certainly didn’t seem to be as twitchy as he had been that morning, but she couldn’t be completely certain of how accurate that was.

As she opened her mouth to speak, he beat her to the point with a chuff that sounded like laughter. “At ease. Man, you  _ really  _ don’t know what you’re doing, do you, Cadet?”

Hand dropping to her side, Pidge let out a breath. “I know  _ exactly  _ what I’m doing, sir. I’m on my way to get dinner, because it’s that time of day when people typically congregate in one location an--”

“C’mon, then. I was coming to look for you, Cadet. I thought after our, uh, meeting this morning, we should probably sit and talk a bit.” There was a beat before he stepped back, pivoting on the ball of his foot and turned to head back the way he came, not even looking back to make sure Pidge was following.

Legs moving quickly to catch up, staying slightly behind and to the left, Pidge let out a breath. “You realize talking in the middle of the mess hall isn’t going to be the best place, right? I mean, there’s people everywhere and--”

“You do love talking, don’t you?” Keith didn’t  _ sound  _ irritated? But Pidge still wasn’t quite sure where things were between them, even with the fact he’d recognized her so quickly. “They have take out boxes in the mess hall if you know who to talk to. We can grab something to eat and go somewhere quieter to talk, somewhere without all the people. Does that sound acceptable?”

“I -- okay.” Because really, there wasn’t anything she  _ could  _ say against that. Besides, Keith’s strides were rather long compared to hers, and it was taking a bit more air to keep up than she would like to admit. 

Thankfully, she didn’t have to continue so for too much longer, Keith’s pace slowing once they were in line to get their meals. Two restaurant style to-go boxes of macaroni and cheese (with meat of some sort added, Pidge thought it was sausage), and two styrofoam cups with juice later, and they were moving into another hallway, with Keith keeping an eye to make sure Pidge was still keeping up this time.

“Where are we going?” As far as she could tell, they were still in the cadet residential hallways, though it was closer towards where the officers themselves slept. “Taking me to your room, Keith? How forward.”

Stopping to bump against the door with his hip, Keith rolled his eyes at her. “Ha, ha. Very funny, Katie. Come on in, I don’t know when my roommate will be back, but he’s probably…” He paused, eyes widening momentarily while Pidge just walked right on in.

She really wished she hadn’t.

It was obvious that Keith’s room was shared with someone, but given the sounds of cloth moving and flesh hitting flesh that had stopped only momentarily as she and Keith had walked in, it was clear as day that Keith’s mysterious roommate was not, in fact, out.

The sound of the styrofoam cup falling from her hand didn’t register, nor that of the to-go box, but the heat and cold from the food and drink made itself known against her pants, and against the polished concrete beneath her feet. Of course, of everything that could have drawn attention from the pair, the loss of her meal would be the thing to do it, bringing not one, but two pairs of eyes to look back at where she and Keith were standing, Keith’s hip still against the door and holding it open for her.

“You could’ve told me it was gonna be dinner and a show,” Pidge quipped, though color was slowly draining from her face as two sets of eyes locked onto her. Both gazes were darkened by desire, the smaller frame pinned to the bed having flushed cheeks and his gaze unfocused, blissed out. The darker man atop him was oddly aware, watching Keith and Pidge where they stood as he continued fucking into the smaller man beneath him. 

There was another moment before Pidge felt a gentle hand on the inside of her elbow, pulling her back out of the room. “Ryan, next time you two are gonna do that, some warning would be appreciated.”

Pidge's eyes moved to look up at Keith's face, when held an unreadable expression as the door shut, leaving the two men to continue their fun in peace. When he caught her looking, he gave her a small shrug and a smile, letting go of her elbow to grab his cup before it could fall off of the top of the box where he had placed it while she had been distracted. 

“I'm guessing that's not exactly normal for your room, then?” Pidge cleared her throat, looking down at the pasta and cheese that was clinging to her pants now, with darker spots of moisture spotted throughout. “Guess we'll have to have that talk later, I've got to get this off. Breakfast isn't  _ that _ far off, at least.” Still, she mourned the loss of perfectly good food, especially after missing lunch. 

“No, we  _ will _ talk. You can take my tray, and I promise I won't look at anything, you can get yourself cleaned off and then we'll talk.”  _ Now _ , Keith looked irritated. “You are gonna need all the help you can get, and that is that.”

Pidge took a moment to collect her thoughts before nodding. “Okay. At least there won't be any prying eyes in there. Or roommates to worry about. I managed to get a room to myself.” She gave him a grin before turning to lead the way  _ back _ to her room, leaving a trail of noodles in her wake. 

Someone else could clean that up, she needed to get out of her pants. At least. 

The trip to her room was shorter than even she anticipated, taking a moment to unlock the door before flipping the light switch and letting Keith in. Immediately she went to the locker against the wall, standard issue, reaching inside for pajamas to change into. Keeping her back to Keith, she began removing the orange and cream jacket, moving to stuff it in the laundry bag and keeping it open before starting on the rest, trusting Keith not to look. 

“So, what do you need to know, what are you wanting to ask, or tell? I  _ can _ multitask, believe it or not.” There was a hint of humor in her voice as she began pulling up on the t-shirt worn beneath the uniform jacket, revealing a black half tank binder around her chest. “And why do you think I need help? I got in here all on my own, didn’t I?”

“You got in, but you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re in a senior cadet uniform, but you can’t even use the right hand to salute.” Not even pausing in his speaking, he turns away, setting things down on the desk in her room, his eyes looking over the things she had set out on there. “Why did you come here? I instantly recognized you, Shiro recognized you…”

Pidge let out a sigh, pulling her belt off, feet toeing her boots off before letting her pants fall to the ground, leaving her in black socks and black boxer briefs, the material looking similar to what was on the binder. The pants went into the laundry bag, pulling her arms in to try and get the binder off as she replied. “It’s the best way for me to get information. I need to know what happened to my dad, to Matt. I don’t believe what they said, and I was so close to getting into their system, to seeing their official files about Kerberos when Iverson caught me.” There’s a grunt as she wiggles, trying to push her arms down through the binder, trying to wiggle it off, trying to get it over her head but her arms were getting stuck. “I changed everything I could about my appearance. I got a binder, I cut my hair, I added glasses, I took a different name, I’m even deliberately being misgendered. I...I have to know, and this is where I have to be to get that knowledge.”

Keith closed his eyes, hands grasping at the edge of the desk, listening as Pidge continued to wiggle and grunt. “I’m not doubting your determination, just, you can’t change your appearance that much. It’s lucky that me and Shiro are...well we’re on your side. I don’t know what happened, and things don’t  _ quite  _ make sense, but you  **can’t** just rush in and assume it will work, not here. Not now.”

“I didn’t rush in, Keith. I planned for months, got the uniform, got my persona enrolled as if it had been here the whole time.” More grunting and Pidge kept moving, until finally she let out a long, irritated sigh. “Keith? Can I get some uh, help? I’ve...gotten stuck in my binder. I can’t really get myself free now. I just, need a tug up I guess? Please?”

To his credit, Keith didn’t seem too flustered by the thought, turning with a look of confusion that Pidge couldn’t really see -- given she was still facing away from him, wiggling in the binder, which didn’t have much room to wiggle in. There was a moment of hesitation before quietly moving behind her, fingers tucking beneath the bottom of the binder at the sides of Pidge’s back, getting a decent grip before pulling and wiggling it up over her head. “Shouldn’t you be able to take this off yourself?” His voice was teasing, or at least that was how she chose to interpret it as she took deep breaths, enjoying the freedom of having nothing on top. “Think you’re okay now?”

“Yeah, th-thanks.” Pidge looked over her shoulder, giving Keith a smile. “Just gonna change. And like I said, I’ve been planning, I just...gotta do my thing.”

Keith was shaking his head as he turned away again, headed back towards the desk. “Uh huh, which includes messing up every protocol in the book? You can’t even  _ salute  _ properly. It’s the first day back, there’s going to be some leeway, but people will catch on quickly if you don’t adjust yourself.”

There was a rustle of clothing followed by a deep breath. “Alright, you can turn around now. And yeah, see, I can only do so much based off of memories of what people did to my dad, you know. It’s little more than muscle-memory for you, but for me? It’s all jumbled in my head beside things I don’t want to remember or that I just can’t remember because it hurts. I thought it would be easier, but then I see one of Dad’s friends in the hallway, or one of Matt’s exes in the mess hall and…”

When Keith turned, it was to see Pidge standing in what looked to be an overly large green sweater, her hands swallowed up in the sleeves and the bottom hanging down almost to her knees. She was reaching up to remove her glasses when he realized he could hear her sniffing -- that she was  _ crying _ .

Here he was, trained and freshly minted officer at the Galaxy Garrison, and he was...not necessarily  _ frightened _ , but certainly  **intimidated** by the sight of a young lady crying. His first instinct was to turn and leave, but he couldn’t do that -- definitely couldn’t do that, it would be wrong, and he knew that. But if he couldn’t flee her presence then what could he do that would be remotely useful?

He took a deep breath before stepping over to her, hesitating before putting his hands on her shoulders, feeling her trembling beneath the large sweater she wore. “Hey. It’s gonna be alright. I’m not gonna lie and say we’ll find your family, because we might not, but? For what it’s worth? We’re gonna do what we can to help you, Katie, alright?” He held her gaze a moment before dropping his hands to his sides, turning away and headed for the door. “You’re -- I’ll talk to you again later, okay? Just, y’know, remember. Me and Shiro are on your side. And  _ try  _ to get some sleep? He’s not gonna be able to sneak you coffee  **every** morning.” Going to the door, he looked back as it opened.

Katie Holt looked like a very frightened girl, one who was out of her depth and that she was one small push from collapsing into a puddle.

In that moment, Keith silently swore to himself he wouldn’t let anyone give her that push.

And then he was gone, leaving Pidge alone with cooling macaroni and cheese and sausage, and juice, tears falling to the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come visit me on [tumblr!](http://meythecat.tumblr.com/)


End file.
